1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an address information editing apparatus and method, and a program for executing the method and a storage medium storing the program.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, apparatuses such as facsimile machines and multi-function copiers which have communication functions such as a facsimile transmitting function or an e-mail transmitting function are provided with a function of registering, as address book data, facsimile numbers, e-mail addresses, and a group of a plurality of facsimile numbers and e-mail addresses to be collectively handled.
Further, to improve the utility of registered address data, an apparatus of this kind has been proposed, which allow address data to be associated with one-touch key numbers as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2000-115343.
Furthermore, a system has been proposed, which registers a facsimile number and an e-mail address of an address information management server in a plurality of apparatuses for synchronization of address book data between these apparatuses, as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2001-177540.
To capture address data from a system that holds an address book for use in execution of groupware or the like, into a facsimile machine or a multi-function copier, it is desirable to edit and convert the address data taking into account the difference in address data format from the groupware. In this case, the address information should be desirably edited so as to be converted to address data suitable for the facsimile machine or the multi-function copier in which addresses are to be registered.
Further, one-touch key numbers improve the utility of address data for the facsimile machine or the multi-function copier and are information unique to the apparatus. Therefore, the one-touch key numbers are generally not stored as address data for the groupware or the like. Furthermore, passwords provided for the address data to maintain security are information unique to the apparatus similarly to the one-touch key numbers. Therefore, the passwords are also generally not stored as address data for the groupware or the like.
Moreover, overlapping or multiple association between address data and one-touch key numbers makes it inconvenient to use the address data in the facsimile machine or the multi-function copier. Thus, attention must be paid not to make overlapping association during edition. On the other hand, a password for referring to an address may define a plurality of addresses that can be referred to by the password. Therefore, overlapping association between addresses and passwords is naturally permitted. Thus, the two kinds of information added to the addresses have different attributes relating to the permissibility of overlapping registration.